


Space Age Sojourn

by amyfortuna



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Elves In Space, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-07 03:54:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16400858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amyfortuna/pseuds/amyfortuna
Summary: Celeborn, along with Elladan and Elrohir, is quite ready for another adventure.





	Space Age Sojourn

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lynndyre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lynndyre/gifts).



The year was 2071 of the Seventh Age, as some mortals of this era counted time. For Celeborn, who had been alive when in Valinor the Two Trees blossomed, the world had changed immeasurably with the count of years, and only a little less so for his grandchildren, Elladan and Elrohir, who were still reluctant to leave Middle-earth with all its wonders for the safe peace of Aman. 

The Third Age of Middle-earth ended with the passing of the Ringbearers, including his beloved Galadriel, over the Sea. The Fourth Age ended in great earthquakes, as mountains fell and lands split apart. The Fifth Age ended in water, and the Sixth ended quietly, with the birth of a child. 

Twenty thousand years, give or take a few, he had lived, and there was little under the Sun he had not seen. But standing on the deck of a new thing -- a spaceship, built by mortals -- he could not help but smile. Arda lay stretched out before him, a gently rounded, beautifully curved, blue ball. 

His grandsons, shoulders together, chatted eagerly about the ship's destination (Io, one of the moons of Jupiter, to begin work on a space station there), and all around the windows people crowded for a last look at Earth as it faded into the distance. Eventually it would become nothing more than another star in the sky. 

All those myths and legends passed down the years had come to this, Celeborn thought. The Sun, last fruit of Laurelin, and the Moon, last flower of Teleperion, were no less beautiful, no less perfect, now that he knew what they 'really' were. 

Earth was vanishing into the distance, slowly becoming smaller and smaller. Celeborn had the distinct impression that he was on a journey he had taken before; that Earth itself was Cuiviénen, and one day it too would become lost forever. 

Elrohir turned to him. "Is it hard to leave?" 

Celeborn shook his head. "Not so long as I know I can come back," he said. "For me this is like a sojourn in the wilderness far from home. Having been to Io, I will appreciate Arda all the more." 

"I feel the same," Elladan chimed in. "The thought has nagged me down the years: if I were to go to Valinor, I can never return. The way is shut. Though I have chosen to be of the Elves, I can also make this choice, and keep making it, though it means I may not see my father and my mother until the end of days." 

Elrohir smiled at him. "We have each other, and we have you, grandfather."

"And we have the universe," Celeborn continued. "This is but the first step." He turned away from the window and gestured to them both. "Now come, we have plants to check on, and a long journey to keep us busy with them. Home is behind, the world's ahead."


End file.
